Fall Guy:

It took a long time before former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took the fall for the failed Iraq war. How long will it be before Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales bites the political dust. Unfortunately, as the dismissal of Rumsfeld has shown, chasing the lackeys out of Dodge seems to have little effect in altering administration policy. Today's New York Times reports that Congress intends to expand the scope of its investigation into the recent firings over at Justice. New evidence is coming to light that Gonzales had a much heavier hand in the process than he's previously let on. Does any believe that the AG would have made the move without his handlers direct involvement? Naturally, that doesn't mean that GB would have initiated the action. The big question is whether Dick Cheney or Karl Rove is actually in charge of the White House.

U. S. Attorney Carol Lam: Fired because she failed to prosecute immigration violations, actually ranked in the top 10 percent (7th out of 93); successfully prosecuted Rep. Duke Cunningham for accepting $2.4 million in bribes; at the time she was fired, was investigating Dusty Foggo, No. 3 man at the CIA and a Bush appointee, for money laundering in conjunction with a defense contractor.

Frank Rich's take on the Gonzales' affair:

“I’m not going to resign,” Mr. Gonzales asserted last week as he played the minority card, rounding up Hispanic supporters to cheer his protestations of innocence. “I’m going to stay focused on protecting our kids.” Actually, he’s going to stay focused on protecting the president. Once he can no longer be useful in that role, it’s a sure thing that like Scooter before him, Fredo will be tossed overboard.

"Fredo" is Bush's nickname for Mr. Gonzales, who worked for Enron (remember them?) until 1994.